Fans of George A. Romero’s dead films know that the third entry was a compromised vision. Romero’s early draft of Day of the Dead would have cost more money than he could raise, so he cut back. Wonder what could have been? Check it out:

At the tail end of Bubba-Ho-Tep, Bruce Campbell fans everywhere were teased with the words, “Elvis returns in Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires starring Sebastian Haff.” Will Bruce Campell actually return to the role of the King? (There have been rumors to the contrary.) And just who is Sebastian Haff, anyway? Word is that Stephen Romano has penned a screenplay, based on a story by Don Coscarelli and Joe R. Lansdale.

by Roger Avary
The fans’ desire for this one almost guarantees it won’t be made. That and it’s reported to be too costly to film on a low budget. The fact that the script has never been distributed online could be a good sign, though.

Everyone who has read Richard Matheson’s book wanted this movie done right. Previous versions featured Vincent Price (Last Man on Earth) and Chuck Heston (The Omega Man). This adaptation was in and out of development for awhile — Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached back before Will Smith took the role of John Neville. When Akiva Goldsman came on board as a writer, he went back to the Protosevich script and collaborated with him on a new draft. Hear a revealing interview with Goldsman on KCRW’s The Business.

by Brian Cooper and George Romero
While Romero was waiting for a greenlight on his 4th Dead movie, he started working on a totally different zombie movie involving an undead rock band. The project was put on hold when Land of the Dead went into production. Screenplay excerpts were once available at DiamondDead.com, but the site is no longer active.

by Brendan Hood
Rewrites, test screenings, and reshoots turned a promising spec script into a movie that no one wanted to see. Read the whole sad story at the Creature Corner. Script hosted by Joblo.com.

by Rospo Pallenberg, novel by Stephen King
George Romero has worked with Stephen King many times over the years. They planned on doing a theatrical version of The Stand, but it didn’t happen. Romero’s producing partner, Richard P. Rubenstein, ended up doing the mini-series after they parted ways. Read the Pallenberg script and an in-depth (if biased) history of the project, courtesy of Subterranean Cinema.

by George Romero
Romero got the shaft on this one. A German production company bought the rights to the video game and hired the zombie master to write and direct the adaptation. (Romero had already done some Japanese TV ads for the Resident Evil 2 video game.) According to Romero, the producers didn’t really have any idea what they wanted. It was like they didn’t understand the game’s inherent gore factor, because they shied away from his concept and started over with Paul Anderson.

New Line commissioned tons of scripts for this project. They spun their wheels for several years, and then produced a movie that was good, clean, mediocre fun. Sure, I liked it, but I think that had more to do with director Ronny Yu than the quality of the writing. Briggs’ script is notable for its reference to the Phantasm movies. (Look for the SILVER “PHANTASM” BALL near the end.)

I don’t know what the story is on “Resurrection,” but Zombie’s “2037” would have been interesting. He was really frustrated when they dropped him… and I was equally frustrated when The Crow Salvation turned out to be such a boring retread.

Interestingly, I believe some elements from “2037” were later used in the fourth Crow film.